Sound Waves

Hi O‘ahu, it’s Maui. Wanna rock?

Image: Jessica Pearl

Sing It, Sister

by Christa Wittmier | Nov 28, 2012

Sound Waves / When I think of Canadian imports to Hawaii, I think of extremely beautiful and talented women: Evangeline Lilly, Grace Park and now, Erin Smith, the energetic and incredibly sexy frontwoman of Maui-based The Throwdowns. She hails from Toronto but has spent the past eight years in Hawaii, winning awards on her own (Best Female Musician by Maui Time for four years in a row). She’s on Oahu nowadays, performing pau hanas at The Modern and Pearl Ultralounge, quietly rocking The M, Hard Rock Honolulu and Rivals Waikiki. Why the sudden shift to a solo career? “The boys all have families and jobs back on Maui,” she told me at the beach in Kailua. “Even though we could have done the Warped tour, it’s much harder for them to leave to tour.” After recording her second solo album with the production team responsible for Arcade Fire’s Funeral (ahem, one of the greatest albums of ALL TIME), Smith will spend time solo gigging here while the album is being finalized. Check her out before she goes big time. We can say we knew her when.